[finlayson]

I have been curious where the heck that wrecking ball is ever since fourarm posted this picture over a year ago:

Could someone please post GPS coordinates (latitude,longitude) of this ball? I don't think I've ever seen it (and I've ridden a lot at Coe).

Ross.

 

[BigLarry]

What FE says

Could someone please post GPS coordinates (latitude,longitude) of this ball? I don't think I've ever seen it (and I've ridden a lot at Coe).

Ross.

Never been there myself, until tomorrow. But paraphrasing and splicing different comments, Fast Eddy has said something along the lines of: "coming from Mississippi Lake on Willow Ridge Road, the wrecking ball is in a meadow on your left before the final climb to Willow peak. It's a bit hard to miss, but people have missed it. It's about 200' off the road as I remember."

From looking at my Topo maps, I would estimate that point to be around N37 10.366 W121 27.323 When I see it, I'll waypoint it and correct the position.

Maybe we'll get a nice picture of a couple different MTBR crews coming from two paths that collide at that wrecking ball.

 

[Skyline35]

Big Easter egg hunt tomorrow!

Let's find the wrecking ball!

Wrecking Ball Mystery Revealed

///Charlie

 

[BigLarry]

Ride estimate

I plotted the ride out in NG Topo.

Skipping Anza, I estimate just over 33 miles and just over 6200' of climb. (NG is usually 10% low on miles, and about right within +/-10% on climb.)

Gotta go now, but may plot profile later. Looks mellow like Mike promised.

Edit: OK, here's the profile. After the first Lyman-Wilson climb, the rest are short and/or gentle climbs followed by screaming singletrack downhill runs. YIPEEE!!!

 

[CruzSS]

I'm on it

I'm confirmed - see you all there.

Alex

 

[Captain Kana]

Are you up for this? I'm Christmas partying it up the night before so I won't be up for anything early. Assuming I get over this nasty cold, I'll join you for a ride and some winter ales.

Are any slackers going to make it? Or are we too limber? I'm off to a C-party also. Let me know, I'll check tomorrow.

Dan C.

 

[K-max]

Dang, didn't make it.

I'm still fighting this head cold and right now it's kicking my arse. Oh well. I just had a session with my other 2-wheeled steed. My vacuum cleaner. Being sick sure is fun.

Hope everyone is having an epic ride out there right now!

Kyle

 

[Skyline35]

Ride report

Time: 9 hrs, 5:06 moving
Miles: 32.81
Participants: 8 (plus one coffee cup)
Elevation gain: 6,000-something.
Weather - not bad for December. Started in the mid-40s and warmed up nicely. Most of
the streambeds were dry. Soil dry to tacky.
Mechanicals/crashes: Just some minor fiddling with the bikes. Plim almost did a face
plant when dropping into a streambed which was proceeded by a pile of pinecones. While
it was an extremely awkward moment, I really couldn't categorize it as a crash.

Route - we stayed true to our plan:

"The plan is to make a bee-line to Mississippi Lake: Lyman Willson Ridge Trail >
Bowl Trail > Wagon Road > Coit Dam Trail > down Coit Ridge Trail to White Tank >
Pacheco Camp > Pacheco Creek Trail >??? > Mississippi Lake.
Return route: Willow Ridge Rd > Willow Ridge Trail > Narrows Tr. > Lost Spring >
Mahoney > Coit Rd. > Grapevine > Anza."

The ??? ended up being the Heritage Trail. A very steep uphill to be avoided, take any of
the alternative trails. Actual milage was less than my estimate because I included
Domino Pond in my pre-ride sum. Wishful thinking.

Picture time...

CrusSS is all smiles after descending Coit Ridge Trail:

So is CHUM:

Larry showing-off for the camera (note the cup hanging off the camelback):

The Making of Coffee Cup's Big MTB Ride:

The group stopped at the first glimpse of Mississippi Lake:

CHUM heading down to Mississippi Lake:

CHUM shares his Fig Newtons®:

After a most heinous climb to the top of Willow Peak, we stand around in a daze desperately tearing open gu packets:

Larry arriving at the top of Willow Peak (no energy for wheelies here):

Plim is smiling after descending Willow Ridge Trail:

So where are my pictures of the wrecking ball? I was the big loser in the Easter egg
hunt. I went right by it with out seeing it and rode/pushed-the-bike up the worst of the
roller-coaster section. I called on the radio to find out where everyone had gone and
learned that if I wanted to see the wrecking ball I would have to descend, look at a
rusty hunk of metal, and re-climb that sucker. I didn't want to see it that bad...

Other than that minor disappointment, it was a great day at Coe. We rode from sun-up to
sun-down and completed the route as planned. Dinner was at Super T in Morgan Hill.
I though I would go straight home but after driving a few minutes I realized I was hungry
and ended up joining the group.

Thanks everyone for showing up! See you on the next one...

///Charlie

 

[CHUM]

Great Ride!! Great Day!!

I don't have too many shots....at about mile 17 my legs started cramping (ughhh - stupid legs)

But here' s what I have:
1. It's amazing how Coe is enirely up hill
2. Ahhh..finally that dang lake
3. Well.. it's a very nice place to take a break
4. Plim being a maniac

Towards the very end of the ride we had a choice to climb another couple hundred feet and go down grapevine....or take the wussy route back back by just dropping down Coit Road to Coyote entrance.....I was the only wuss....DAMN Cramps

 

[Dan'ger]

Looks like you guys had fun. I expect a direct order to join you the next time you ride there!

 

[8Trak]

Great ride everyone, with special thanks to Charlie, Plim, and Larry for planning the route. That ride really put my legs to the test and I'm glad they passed (though I wouldn't say with flying colors). Besides the long climbs and sweet singletrack descents, I had plenty of opportunities to practice my hike-a-bike skills. I'm glad we did Anza at the end to cap things off.

 

[BigLarry]

Great Ride!

It was a very fun ride everyone. Got to see lots of new trails, like Coit Dam Trail, Willow Ridge Trail, Pacheco Creek, .. along with Willow Ridge Rd that I hope not to see again. Had lots of fun company.

Thanks everyone for being "friends" with the cup too. At least the slacker part of Ed was with us.

Ride went pretty exactly as planned. Ride time about 9 hours from 7:45 to 4:30, just before dark.

My Ride, skipping Anza: 33 miles 6200' climb
Estimate of others doing Anza: ~33 miles, 6600' of climb
6 hours moving, 3 hours stopped - instead of Charlie's 5 hours moving. That is why I know I'm 20% slower. Thanks for waiting.

I got 134 pictues. A dozen or two are great that I'll post later in the week. Here's a few of the better ones.

1. Pacheco Creek Tail that turned out to be a very mellow way to get to Mississippi Lake.
2. Willow Ridge Road: NOT a very mellow way to get to/from Mississippi Lake. Note riders on first hill.
3. Willow Ridge Trail. Not to be confused with Road of the same name. An absolutely BEAUTIFUL DH singletrack. More pictures later.
4. Narrows Trail Rocks.

 

[Skyline35]

No shame!

Towards the very end of the ride we had a choice to climb another couple hundred
feet and go down grapevine....or take the wussy route back by just dropping down
Coit Road to Coyote entrance.....I was the only wuss....DAMN Cramps

You should feel no shame about Sunday, Nick. That was a BIG ride. Only a small
percentage of the world's population could have done what you did! In fact, everyone put
out amazing efforts!!! I know I was pretty sore on Monday.

Got to see lots of new trails, like Coit Dam Trail, Willow Ridge Trail,
Pacheco Creek, .. along with Willow Ridge Rd...

With all the long rides I've been doing at Coe this year, the park is getting smaller and smaller!

Now what are those coordinates for the wrecking ball, Larry? The rains are holding off, the
weather looks good for this weekend - what do you say Ross? Want to go out and find that
rusty hunk of metal? Maybe try the Mississippi Ridge Trail on the way there?

///Charlie

 

[DMFT]

- I miss that place
Need to git up there soon

Great Pic's & Reports guy's, as usual!

 

[knobbyknees]

Chaparral chaining ball

I have been curious where the heck that wrecking ball is ever since fourarm posted this picture over a year ago:

///Charlie

From the coe website at http://www.coestatepark.com/trip_reports_4.htm
"3) "giant steel ball": The heavy metal ball was a tool used by cattle ranchers to clear chaparral, in a method known as "chaining." The ball, which has a large eyelet, is attached to a heavy chain, which is then attached to a bulldozer. The ball, by its shape, tends to roll down hill. The dozer travels at the top of the ridge, with the chain taut between the dozer and the ball. The moving chain then rips up the brush at the base, leaving newly open areas for grass to grow and support more cattle. It would also disturb soils and open them to pioneer (and usually alien) species, and it is not considered an environmentally friendly means of managing the land."

Patty

 

[BigLarry]

Wrecking Ball Coordinates

Could someone please post GPS coordinates (latitude,longitude) of this ball? I don't think I've ever seen it (and I've ridden a lot at Coe).
Ross.

Now what are those coordinates for the wrecking ball, Larry? The rains are holding off, the weather looks good for this weekend - what do you say Ross? Want to go out and find that rusty hunk of metal? Maybe try the Mississippi Ridge Trail on the way there?..

///Charlie

OK. I had it off a bit before. It's NOT near the peak of the road as I thought, but way before (maybe a mile before), near the start of the climb to the peak. It's at a dip where you want to go fast thinking about the next big climb, and some missed it even on this trip until they were called back on the radio.

Here's where you go. It's on the east side of Willow Ridge Rd. about 0.3 miles north of the Rat Springs intersection (0.4 miles of zigzag rolling distance).

GPS Wrecking Ball Coordinates:
N37 10.617 W121 26.975

So now you and Charlie can go and play ball. Just be careful, it has odd effects on some people.

1. Some want to fly on top like that scene from Titanic.
2. Some want to put cups on top, others want to push the ball and feel it's energy.
3. Others have just climbed this hill and don't want to come back to the ball. (For once a picture that properly captures the steepness of a nasty climb - this is one of many on Willow Ridge Trail.)

 

[BigLarry]

3D Topo

Still sorting through and reducing my pictures - at which point I'll post a dozen or two of the excellent ones I'm seeing. For now, here's a 3D Topo plot - Just like being there.

Lower left: Hunting Hollow (start and end)
Lower edge: Lyman Wilson and Bowl
Lower right corner: Wilson Camp
Lower right side: Wagon Rd.
Right side: Coit Lk, then Pacheco Camp, then Pacheco Creek
Upper right corner: Mississippi Lake
Upper edge: Willow Ridge
Upper left corner: Narrows Trail
Left edge: Mahoney Meadows, then Grapevine DH to Coyote Rd.

 

[BigLarry]

Ride Pictures

OK, finally had time to sort through the pics and pic out the ones worth posting.

Here we are at the mind-numbing cold morning at 7:30AM and 45F.
Charlie wants to talk numbers. Seems he's sure of his 36 mile estimate from the tally of map marker distances, versus my 33 mile ride estimate via Topo software. This is a very important issue as I can only ride 35.392 miles without keeling over. We finally resolve the difference in that he's included a loop on Coit all the way up to Domino Pond, whereas I've gone straight down Grapevine from Coit Rd. So I indeed make the trip alive.

Others also do Anza that I don't, but it mostly adds climb, rather than distance. That brings them to 6600' of climb versus my 6200'.

 

[BigLarry]

Lyman-Wilson

Lie Man Will Son:

A bit foggy in the morning so pics are blurry. So was I for same reason.

1. Start up hill
2. Keep Going
3. Keep Going
4. Keep Going
5. Keep Going

 

[BigLarry]

Coit Dam Tr.

Coit Dam is actually after Wagon Rd below, but the server put this post in out of order.

Coit Dam steep downhill single track was yet another trail I'd never done. This trail had lots of brush whacking everyone on the last ride there. The ROMP crew did trail maintenance the day before and it showed. Nice clear path with zignzag singletrack between.

How appropriate, here's zignzag (Rob) doing his zignzag!